Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink Review

Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink

Goodreads: With time dwindling but her will to end the Prophecy stronger than ever, Lia sets out on a journey to find the remaining keys, locate the missing pages of the Prophecy, and convince her sister Alice to help--or risk her life trying. Lia has her beloved Dimitri by her side, but Alice has James, the man who once loved her sister--and maybe still does. James doesn't know the truth about either sister, or the prophecy that divides them. And Alice intends to keep it that way.

There are some secrets sisters aren't meant to share. Because when they do, it destroys them. This stunning conclusion to Michelle Zink's Prophecy of the Sisters trilogy will make saying good-bye bittersweet for readers.

My take: I didn't read the first two books of the trilogy so I decided against giving it a star rating. Without having embarked on the entire journey that Lia et. al. have taken, I can only give my thoughts on the third installment.

First of all, I was worried I would be completely lost and may not enjoy the book at all. Although I didn't get the inside scoop as it was happening, the third book provides a condensed Reader's Digest version enough that I understood the gist of the conflict. I don't know what happened with the betrayal but I felt a little misty at the forgiveness.

This is the ending so the conflict is supposed to be pretty big (as opposed to Twilight's non-conflict. Sorry. Couldn't help that one. Disappointing, you know?) The goal is to gather all the keys, which happen to be people, and all the magical artifacts and close the Gate of the Otherworld. The Otherworld is the place where the spirits go after death but before Heaven or Hell, I presume. But these particular spirits want to come back to earth and take it over which would be the end of mortals, overall. So the keys need to be in place, the magical artifacts are needed, the rite, and the Guardian and the Gate.

More catch up which is crucial to understand and quickly explained without belaboring the first two books is that the Guardian and Gate are roles passed through the descendants of an angel and mortal. They are twin girls. None of them have successfully closed the gate. This time however, the stakes are higher but the twins are at odds. What Lia was given by birthright, Alice coveted. Alice has been traveling and communicating with the Otherworlds all her life. Seems she has a dark streak in her. And Alice refuses to help Lia close the gate forever.

Along with the mysticism and a little paranormal, there is romance. Dmitri is the perfect love interest for Lia. I won't go into detail but I must admit that the chemistry between them was sweet, sensual, and very well written. Whether they did or did not, I will not say. Unless you really want to know because I will tell you if you are screening it for your own daughter. I will say that whatever occurred between them is tastefully written.

I liked it. I think that had I read the first two books I would have liked it even more. Without reading the preceding books, I still felt like it was a solid read.